payback

See also: pay back

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English pay backdeverb.

English payback

Deverbal from pay back.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪbæk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

payback (usually uncountable, plural paybacks)

1. (uncountable) An act of revenge.

   They beat us last year, so this year's win was payback.

2. (countable) A benefit, reward, a form of recompense.
   • 2009 February 2, Carol Goar, “You can help cleaners earn decent wages”, in Toronto Star‎^[1]:

     They identify three tangible paybacks.

3. A return on investment.
4. (rare) A refund; reimbursement.

Synonyms

• (repayment): repayment
• (revenge): getback, revenge, repayment, reprisal, just deserts, poetic justice

Derived terms

• community payback
• energy payback time

Translations

an act of revenge — see also revenge

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: venjança (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 報復 / 报复 (zh) (bàofù)

• Finnish: takaisinmaksu (fi), kosto (fi)
• German: Rache (de) f, Revanche (de) f
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: zemsta (pl) f, zapłata (pl) f
• Portuguese: forra (pt) f (Brazil), troco (pt) m
• Russian: месть (ru) f (mestʹ), воздая́ние (ru) n (vozdajánije), возме́здие (ru) n (vozmézdije)
• Spanish: venganza (es) f, desquite (es) m, revancha (es) f
• Ukrainian: відплата (vidplata)

a form of recompense

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: retorn (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 報酬 / 报酬 (zh) (bàochóu)

• Finnish: kompensaatio (fi)
• German: Rückzahlung (de) f, Rückerstattung (de) f
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: rekompensata (pl) f
• Portuguese: retorno (pt) m
• Romanian: rambursare (ro) f
• Russian: вознагражде́ние (ru) n (voznagraždénije), награ́да (ru) f (nagráda)
• Spanish: recompensa (es) f
• Ukrainian: винагорода (vynahoroda)

return on investment — see return on investment

refund — see refund

reimbursement — see reimbursement

Verb

payback

1. Misspelling of pay back.

See also

• have it coming
• karma
• return the favor

Anagrams

• back pay, backpay

Gullah

Etymology

From English payback.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peː.bæk/

Noun

payback

1. prize

References

• De Nyew Testament‎^[2], Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc., 2025